Trypanosomiasis / Sleeping sickness - Diagnosis

Diagnosis

Physical check-up

A thorough physical check up may indicate meningoencephalitis, swelling of the brain and meninges.

Blood test

Blood tests are done to gauge albumin levels, ESR count and Globulin in the blood. The check up also measures the count of RBC in the blood

Vital tests

• To check the presence of motile trypanosomes, it is necessary to conduct a microscopic investigation of the blood, bone marrow and the cerebrospinal fluid. The chancre fluid and lymph node aspirates are also screened to verify the presence of infection causing agents.

• Mini anion-exchange/centrifugation and the quantitative buffy coat (QBC) are effective concentration techniques, mandatory to be conducted before the commencement of microscopic inquiry.

• In chagas disease blood samples are used to develop a culture of the infecting parasite.
• Xenodiagnosis, is a strategy of feeding the uninfected reduvid bugs with human blood. After a month elapses, the bug's gut is clinically checked for the presence of parasites.
• A series of immunodiagnostic tests such as, radioimmunoassay complement fixation, indirect fluorescent assay, ELISA, PCR, indirect hemagglutination are employed to identify the strains of Trypanosoma cruizi amidst conflicting pathogenecities.

Reference:

1. Chagas Disease - (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/chagasdisease.html)